Yarn control device



Nov. 20, 1956 H. STANIER 2,771,254

YARN CONTROL DEVICE Filed June 25, 1954 INVE TQE.

' Hana/.0 Sm/wave BYW A-r-roawavs YARN CUNTRDL DEVICE Harold Stanier, Radyr, Candi Wales Application June 25, B54, Serial No. 439,306

Claims priority, application Great Britain June 27, 1953 Claims. (Cl. 242-450) This invention relates to yarn control devices and is concerned with such a device which, although applicable generally, is more particularly intended for controlling yarn while being drawn off over end from bobbins or other packages.

In drawing ofl over end from a large multiplicity of bobbins or the like in warping from a creel the yarn passing from any given bobbin through the respective guide, which is usually provided to effect alignment, or initial general alignment, of the various running ends passing to the warping mill, is at one moment under tension and at the next slack with the result that, particularly in the case of delicate yarns, frequent filament breakage and snarling is experienced. The disc-type tensioning means usually provided to reduce the adverse effects of such uneven withdrawal and resulting snatching of the yarn have been found to be quite inadequate in the case of delicate silk and rayon yarns and breakage of the filaments continually occurs.

The main object of the present invention is to provide a yarn control device of high sensitivity which will ensure even tension in the yarn and substantially eliminate broken filaments. A further object is to permit drawing off over end of the most delicate yarns at high speed without damage to the filaments and with substantially complete elimination of snarling.

According to the invention the yarn control device comprises a yarn guide or eyelet movable, under the varying instantaneous tension in the yarn, about a centre and against suitable loading from a position in which, with the yarn passing through the guide or eyelet, it determines a longer path for the yarn through the device to a position in which it determines a shorter path, and back again. For example the guide or eyelet may be arranged towards one end of a lever or arm pivoted at or towards its other end, the pivot point forming the aforesaid centre.

Preferably the arrangement is such that the aforesaid loading is automatically increased as the yarn guide or eyelet moves towards a position in which it determines the shortest path for the yarn through the device. This may be achieved by having such loading comprise a counterweight which is associated with the guide or eyelet in such manner that as the latter is moved about said centre into a position to determine a shorter path for the yarn through the device so the counterweight is raised about a centre. If desired the centres about which the guide or eyelet and the counterweight move may be one and the same, the counterweight being suitably offset to achieve the foregoing progressively increasing load.

Additionally or alternatively to the loading provided by the counterweight, movement of the guide or eyelet towards a position in which it determines the shortest path for the yarn through the device may effect progressively increased raising movement of a weighted pin or plunger. Such raising movement may be achieved with the aid of a cam interposed between the guide or eyelet and the plunger. If desired the cam may be formed by a surface 2,771,254 Patented Nov. 20, 1956 of the counterweight against which the lower end of the plunger seats, the latter accordingly forming a cam follower. The weight may comprise a disc-like portion cooperating with another disc to form a further yarn guide whereby, with the plunger raised due to momentarily increased tension in the yarn, the tension applied to the yarn by the disc is relieved.

The application of the invention to the production of a warp beam to supply a warp knitting loom will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a broken side elevation of the yarn control device,

Figure 2 is a sectional end view of the device shown in Figure 1 on the line 11-11 of that figure, and

Figure 3 is a broken plan view of the device, the figure also showing one end of a bobbin from which yarn is drawn off through the device.

Referring to the drawings, the warp beam is produced by drawing oil over end from bobbins on a jack creel, not illustrated, the beam being preferably produced by fullwidth warping either on to a warping mill and then back beaming or, if desired, directly onto the beam. Adjacent each bobbin spindle of the creel, one of which is illustrated at MB in Figure 3, the creel is provided with a yarn control device 11 in accordance with the invention, such devices each comprising a body or base plate 12 of substantially rectangular shape in the form of a shallow channel adapted to be fixed to. the creel side frame so that it is disposed horizontally and extends longitudinally of said side frame. In section the channel-shaped body 12 comprises a horizontal transverse portion 13 having a short outer wall or flange 14 extending vertically upwards from one end and a short inner wall or flange 15 extending upwardly and inwardly, i. e. at an obtuse angle to the horizontal transverse portion, from its other end. Preferably the horizontal transverse portion 13 of the section also has inset from each of its ends a short por tion 16 extending vertically downwards therefrom to form a subsidiary downwardly directed channel 16a the open bottom of which is closable by a light metal cover plate 17. The channel section body may be formed as an extrusion in light metal or alloy and the lower edges of the downwardly directed portions 16 are preferably provided with outwardly projecting flanges 16b which cooperate with upwardly and inwardly turned side edges 17a of the cover plate 17 to retain the latter in position on the body and to allow sliding longitudinal movement thereof to permit access to the interior of the channel.

Carried by the inclined inner wall 15 of the channel body, towards one corner of the later, is a tubular guide 18 of porcelain, glass or synthetic material, such guide being mounted on a screw 19 fixed in the inclined wall so that the axis of the guide extends normally thereto, i. e. upwardly and inwardly of the channel. The guide is formed with a waist and carries a pair of horns 20 directed outwardly of the body to prevent escape of the yarn which passes round the waisted portion of the guide between the horns. Formed in the horizontal base portion 13 of the body towards the diagonally opposite corner of the latter is a slot 21 elongated in the longitudinal direction of the body to provide an opening between the latter and the lower subsidiary channel 16a. Within the latter a counterweight 22 of substantially cylindrical shape is arranged, being disposed laterally of the subsidiary channel and provided with offset pivot pins 23 projecting through holes in the side walls 16 of the subsidiary channel which forms bearings. A lever or arm 24 of thin stiif wire having one end secured to the counterweight 22 at a point near the pivot axis, and towards one end, of the latter passes upwardly through the elongated slot 21 into the space between the side walls of the body 12. At its free end which projects above such side walls the lever or arm 24 carries an eyelet 25 of porcelain, glass or other suitable material, the lever being bent, as shown at 26, towards its lower end near its point of attachment to the counterweight 22 so that with the latter hanging in its normal position of equilibrium the major portion of the lever extends approximately vertically, as shown in full lines in Figure 1.

At a point of the horizontal base portion 13 of the channel body 12 laterally separated from the elongated slot 21 an opening 27 is formed to receive the base of a cylindrical guide 28 projecting vertically upwards from the base portion and within the axial bore of such cylindrical guide a pin or plunger 29 is slidably arranged with its lower end resting on the cylindrical surface of the counterweight 22 at the end of the latter remote from the point of attachment of the lever or arm 24. Around the guide 28 a downwardly dished metal disc 39 is freely disposed and a weight 31 in the form of a short cylinder, the bore of which is an easy fit over the guide 28, has

an annular disc-like portion or flange 32 at its lower end resting against the upper surface of the freely disposed lower disc. The centre portion of the latter is also dished downwardly to leave a shallow depression around the guide 28 surrounded by a raised portion 3th: of the lower disc. In the normal position of the parts described, i. c. with the lever or arm 24 substantially vertical and the counterweight 22 in its position of equilibrium, the upper end of the pin or plunger projects freely into the space between the upper end of the bore in the weight 31 and the top of the guide 28 and consequently the disc 32 of the weight rests against the raised portion 30a of the lower disc 30. However, when the lever or arm 24 is moved about the pivot axis of the counterweight 22 the cylindrical surface of the latter acts as a cam and causes the pin or plunger 29 to be pressed upwardly against the inner surface of the closed upper end of the weight 31 to raise the latter so that its flange or disc 32 is lifted clear of the raised portion 30a of the lower disc.

In the outer vertical side wall 14 of the channel body 12, towards the end of the latter carrying the horned guide 18, an opening is formed which is provided with a porcelain or other suitable eyelet 33 and upstanding from the horizontal base portion 13 of the channel body at a point disposed laterally between the lever or arm 24 and the vertical guide 28, and in alignment with such eyelet, is a metal support 34 which carries a second eyelet 35 at the same height as the first. A further eyelet 36 is formed in the inner inclined wall of the channel body, all three eyelets being aligned to simplify threading of the device. The lever or arm 24 is of such length that when it is turned about its pivot from the substantially vertical position shown in full lines in Figure l to the lowered position shown in Figure 2 and in broken lines in Figure l the eyelet which it carries at its free end may be brought into alignment with the three stationary eyelets 33, 35 and 36 which, as already mentioned, are themselves aligned. In threading the yarn control device 11 the lever or arm 24 is first turned about its pivot to bring its eyelet 25 into alignment with the stationary eyelets 33, 35 and 36, as already described, whereupon the yarn 37 from the bobbin 38 is drawn through all four eyelets in one operation with the aid of a hooked needle. After threading, the lever or arm 24 is allowed to return to its normal upright position and the yarn 37 between the intermediate stationary eyelet 35 and the eyelet 36 in the inclined side wall 15 of the channel body is looped first round the horned guide 18 and then round the vertical guide 28 between the discs 31 32 of the latter.

The running end of the yarn 37 thus follows a circuitouspath through the yarn control device 11 from the entry eyelet 36 adjacent the horned guide 18 to the outlet eyelet 33in the outer vertical wall 14, the general direction of traverse being horizontally and forwardly from the entry eyelet and around the horned guide (which acts as a steadying device to compensate for the transverse winding of the yarn on the bobbin 3% which would otherwise cause a severe jerky movement on the lever or arm 24), thence horizontally and rearwardly from the horned guide and around the vertical guide 28, horizontally and forwardly from the latter to the fixed intermediate eyelet 3S, upwardly and rearwardly from the latter to the eyelet 25 carried by the end of the lever or arm 24, thence downwardly and forwardly and out by way of the outlet eyelet 33 from which it passes forwardly, as shown at 37a, to the warping mill or beam. Due to the uneven tension resulting from the high speed withdrawal of the yarn 37 from the bobbin 38, and the ballooning of the yarn, with momentarily increased tension the lever or arm 24 is drawn forwardly to shorten the path of the yarn through the device, the weight 31 being simultaneously lifted through the intermediary of the pin or plunger 29 to relieve tension imposed on the yarn by the discs 30, 32. In practice due to the momentarily changing tension in the running end of the yarn the lever or arm 24 flickers back and forth to even the tension by constant variation of the length of the yarn path through the device.

It will be appreciated that the geometry of the arrangement described results in the counterweight 22 applying a progressively increasing resistance to movement of the lever or arm 24 as the latter appnoaches the position of maximum permitted deflection from its normal position, in the pin or plunger 29 only raising the weight 31 towards the end of the movement of the lever or arm to the said position of maximum permitted deflection and then at an increasing rate of lift and finally in the lever or arm being enabled to turn through an angle of substantially i. e. from approximately the vertical position shown in Figure 1 to approximately the horizontal position shown in Figure 2.

It follows from the fact that the pin or plunger only raises the weight towards the end of the movement of the lever or arm 24 to the position of maximum permitted deflection that, on return movement of the lever or arm, the weight 31 drops to trap the yarn 37 between the disc 32 and the raised portion 30a'of the lower disc 30 when the lever or arm has completed only about one third of its travel back towards its undeflected position. Owing to this, when the warp beam is stopped and tension is relieved on the yarn 37a between the warp beam and the outlet eyelet 33 of the yarn control device the lever or arm 24 begins to move upwardly and in so doing tends to pull yarn olf the bobbin 38. However, as soon as the lever or arm 24 has moved upwardly a short distance the yarn is trapped in the above-described manner and no more yarn can be drawn off the bobbin 38. As the lever or arm 24 has only moved back about one third of its travel the counterweight 22 still operates to impose tension on the length of yarn between the discs 30, 32 and the warp beam and thus takes up any slack in the yarn and prevents cotting up and snarling of adjacent threads of yarn extending between the various yarn control devices and the warp beam.

Although the bodies 12 of each of the individual yarn control devices of the creel may be separately formed and attached to a longitudinal side frame member of the creel adjacent each bobbin spindle 10, all the yarn control device bodies for a given row of bobbins are preferably formed by a common channel of the section described extending from end to end of the creel frame.

It will be understood that the bobbin spindles 10 and the bobbins 38 carried thereby are arranged in rows and are mounted back to back on the creel frame, a separate yarn control device being arranged in front of each bobbin on opposite sides of the creel frame. Since the yarn 37a leaves each yarn control device 11 longitudinally of the creel frame in the same direction the yarn control devices on one side of the latter are of opposite hand to those on the other side.

I claim:

1. A yarn control device comprising in combination a yarn guide, a lever carrying towards one of its ends said yarn guide, a pivot for said lever arranged towards its opposite end, a first disc-like member superimposed upon a second disc-like member to form a further yarn guide with the yarn passing between the adjacent surfaces of the disc-like members, a weight, offset from and movable about said pivot, which loads said lever and is raised about the pivot as the lever turns about the latter against the loading under the varying instantaneous tension of the yarn passing through said yarn guide from a position in which the latter determines a longer path for the yarn through the device to a position in which it determines a shorter path and is lowered on reverse movement of the lever, and means, =operatively associated with said lever, for raising said first disc-like member as the weight is raised to separate the disc-like members and relieve the tension applied to the yarn by these latter.

2. A yarn control device comprising in combination a yarn guide, a lever carrying towards one of its ends said yarn guide, a horizontally arranged pivot for said lever arranged towards its opposite end, a weight, ofiset from and movable about said pivot, which loads said lever and is raised about the pivot as the lever turns about the latter against the loading under the varying instantaneous tension of the yarn passing through said yarn guide from a position in which the latter determines a longer path for the yarn through the device to a position in which it determines a shorter path and is lowered on reverse movement of the lever, a vertically slidable plunger arranged adjacent the axis of said pivot, a cam operated by turning movement of said lever about the pivot and which effects progressively increasing raising movement of said plunger as said weight is raised, and a first disc-like member superimposed upon a second disclike member to form a further yarn guide with the yarn passing between the adjacent surfaces of the disc-like members, said raising movement of the plunger also effecting progressively increasing raising movement of said first disc-like member to separate it from the second disclike member and relieve the tension applied to the yarn by the adjacent surfaces of the disc-like members.

3. A yarn control device comprising in combination a body, horizontally aligned entry and outlet guides for the yarn fixedly mounted in said body, a movable yarn guide positioned between said fixed yarn guides, a lever carrying towards one of its ends said movable yarn guide, a horizontally arranged pivot for said lever arranged towards its opposite end and arranged relatively to said fixed guides so that the movable yarn guide is capable of moving along a path which brings it into and out of alignment with said fixed guides, a weight, olfset from and movable about said pivot, which loads said lever so that said movable yarn guide tends to move out of alignment with said fixed guides and is raised about the pivot as said movable guide is brought into alignment with said fixed guides under the instantaneous tension of the yarn passing through the guides, a plunger vertically slidable in said body, a cam formed by a surface of said weight against which the lower end of said plunger seats and which efiects progressively increasing raising movement of said plunger as said weight is raised, and a first disc-like member superimposed upon a second disclike member to form a further yarn guide with the yarn passing between the adjacent surfaces of the disc-like members, said raising movement of the plunger also effecting progressively increasing raising movement of said first disc-like member to separate it from said second disc-like member and relieve the tension applied to the yarn by the adjacent surfaces of the disc-like members.

4. A yarn control device according to claim 2, wherein said weight is of cylindrical form and the axis of said pivot is arranged longitudinally and eccentrically of the weight, the lower end of the lever being secured to the weight in such manner that when the latter hangs in its normal position of equilibrium the lever extends upwardly therefrom.

5. A yarn control device according to claim 3, wherein said disc-like members are coaxial with the vertical axis of said plunger which is displaced horizontally to one side of a line connecting said entry and outlet guides, the upper surface of said second disc-like member being arranged at substantially the same level as the common level of the entry and outlet guides, the lever swinging about the pivot when tension is placed upon the yarn from a substantially vertical to a substantially horizontal position in which the movable yarn guide carried by the lever is substantially in alignment with said entry and outlet guides.

6. A yarn control device according to claim 3, and further comprising a guide having an outwardly projecting horn at each end between which the yarn passes and arranged adjacent said entry guide and on the opposite side of the latter to the side on which the plunger is arranged, and a further fixed guide arranged between the movable yarn guide carried by the lever and the entry guide and horizontally aligned with the latter and the outlet guide.

7. A yarn control device according to claim 3, wherein said body comprises a shallow channel adapted to extend longitudinally of a creel side frame, the channel body having a transverse portion and upwardly projecting side walls one of which carries said entry guide and the other said outlet guide and between which said lever and said plunger are arranged.

8. A yarn control device according to claim 3, wherein said body comprises a shallow channel adapted to extend longitudinally of a creel side frame, the channel body having a transverse portion and upwardly projecting side walls one of which carries said entry guide and the other said outlet guide and between which said lever and said plunger are arranged, said transverse portion of the body having portions extending downwards therefrom to form a subsidiary downwardly directed channel the walls of which carry said pivot which lies therebetween, and a closure member which closes the open bottom of said downwardly directed channel and is arranged to slide longitudinally of the channel to permit access to the interior of the latter.

9. A yarn control device comprising in combination a fixed entry guide for the yarn, a movable yarn guide, a lever carrying towards one of its ends said movable yarn guide, a pivot for said lever arranged towards its opposite end and about which the lever turns, a weight, :offset from and movable about said pivot, which loads said lever and is raised about the pivot as the lever turns about the latter against the loading under the varying instantaneous tension of the yarn passing through said yarn guide from a position in which the latter determines a longer path for the yarn through the device to a position in which it determines a shorter path and is lowered on reverse movement of the lever, a slidable plunger arranged adjacent the axis of said pivot, a cam operated by turning movement of said lever about the pivot and which effects progressively increasing raising movement of said plunger as said weight is raised, and means disposed between said entry guide and said movable yarn guide which impose tension on the yarn and are moved by raising movement of said plunger from a position in which they impose their maximum tension on the yarn to a position in which said tension is substantially relieved, movement of said means from the position in which they impose their maximum tension on the yarn being effected only towards the end of the raising movement of said plunger and therefore only towards the end of the movement of said movable yarn guide towards the position in which it determines the shortest path for the yarn through the device.

10. A yarn control device comprising in combination a fixed entry guide for the yarn, a fixed outlet guide for the yarn, a movable yarn guide through which the yarn passes from said entry to said outlet guide, a lever hav ing said movable yarn guide mounted thereon towards one of its ends, a pivot for said lever towards its opposite end and about which the lever turns in a plane substantially normal to the direct path between said entry and outlet guides to move said movable yarn guide from a position in which it determines a longer path for the yarn through the device to a position in which it determines a shorter path, and back again, and a weight which loads said lever and'is raised as the latteris turned about the pivot so that the yarn guide determines a shorter path for the yarn through the device and is lowered 'on-reverse 5 movement of said lever.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

